Liberty
Coalition & National Security Whistleblowers Coalition
To: The U.S. House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform
A Petition to require public hearings by the House Committee
on Oversight and Government Reform into confirmed reports by FBI Whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds of wrongdoing, criminal activities, cover-ups against the
security and interests of the United States and its citizenry, and the
erroneous use of the State Secrets
Privilege to shut down all court proceedings in her case.
In March 2002 the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (DOJ-IG) began its investigation of Ms. Edmonds’ reports.
In June 2002, in at least two unclassified Senate briefings, FBI officials confirmed the validity of Ms. Edmonds reports; however, in May 2004 Attorney General John Ashcroft retroactively classified information from these briefings and gagged the Congress, preventing further investigation.
In October 2002 Attorney General
Ashcroft invoked the ‘State Secrets
Privilege’ to block all court proceedings in Edmonds’ case.
In July 2004 the DOJ-IG
investigation into Edmonds' dismissal was completed but was entirely
classified.
In January 2005 the DOJ-IG
released an unclassified summary
report on Edmonds’ case which concluded that Edmonds was fired for reporting
serious security breaches and misconduct in the agency's translation program,
and that many of her allegations were supported by other witnesses and
documents.
The issues that were
reported by Ms. Edmonds include:
·
Cases
of espionage activities within the FBI, DOD, and the Department of State.
·
Cases
of cover-up of information and leads pre and post 9/11, under the excuse of
protecting certain diplomatic relations.
·
Cases
of intentional blocking and mistranslation of crucial intelligence by FBI
translators and management.
·
Cases
of foreign entities bribing certain government officials and elected
representatives.
Edmonds filed a
whistleblower lawsuit against the Department of Justice, but the government
successfully argued that the state secrets privilege was an absolute bar to her
suit going forward. She was even barred from the courtroom during the argument
of her appeal! The Supreme Court declined to review the case. The government's
invocation of the state secrets privilege in a motion to dismiss her case
contradicts the core idea of judicial review and essentially allows the Executive Branch to
dictate to the federal courts what cases they can and can’t hear.
Invoking the State Secrets
Privilege is a tactic frequently used by the Executive Branch to stop
potentially embarrassing lawsuits against the government. Many of these suits
are brought by government employees, such as Ms. Edmonds, who allege fraud,
mismanagement, or other unlawful conduct, and the state secrets privilege has
successfully been invoked by the government to silence them. The state secrets
provision has been used too frequently and with too little public protection.
Given the seriousness of
Ms. Edmonds’ reports and in the best interests of the security of the country,
it is incumbent upon the Congress to exercise its oversight responsibilities
and authority as representatives of the people of the United States, therefore:
We, the
undersigned, now call upon the House Committee on Oversight and Government
Reform in Congress to hold public hearings into the case of FBI Whistleblower
Sibel Edmonds, and the erroneous use of the State Secrets Privilege to shut down
all court proceedings in her case.
Signatories:
American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
Anthony
Romero, National Director
National Coalition against
Censorship
Joan E. Bertin, Executive Director
Bill of
Rights Defense Committee (BORDC)
Nancy
Talanian, Director
OMB
Watch
Sean
Moulton, Director
Electronic
Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
Marc
Rotenberg, Executive Director
National Security Whistleblowers
Coalition
Bill Weaver, Board Member
Liberty Coalition
Michael Ostrolenk, Co-founder &
Director
National Whistleblower Center
Steve Kohn, Chair
Open the Government .Org
Patrice McDermott, Executive
Director
U.S.-Armenia Public
Affairs Committee (USAPAC)
Ross Vartian, Executive
Director
Citizens for Responsibility &
Ethics in Washington (CREW)
Melanie Sloan, Director
Citizen Outreach
Doug Bandow, Vice President of
Policy
Concerned Foreign Service Officers
Daniel Hirsch, Board Member
People for the American Way
Ralph Neas, President
Fairfax County Privacy Council
Mike Stollenwerk, Director
Federal Hispanic
Law Enforcement Officers Association
Sandalio Gonzalez,
Director
Government
Accountability Project (GAP)
Tom
Devine, Legal Director
National Air Disaster
Alliance/Foundation
Gail Dunham, President
Ohio Taxpayers Association & OTA
Foundation
Scott Pullins, Chairman & CEO
Project on Government Oversight (POGO)
Danielle
Brian, Executive Director
September 11th Advocates
Mindy Kleinberg, Director
Veterans Affairs Whistleblowers
Coalition (VAWBC)
Dr. Jeffrey Fudin, President
Armenian National Committee of
America (ANCA)
Aram Hamparian, Executive Director
U.S. Bill of Rights Foundation
(USBOR)
Dane Von
Breichenruchardt, President
Center for Financial
Privacy & Human Rights
J. Bradley, Jansen,
Director
Consumer Action
Linda Sherry, Director
Privacy Activism
Linda Ackerman, Staff
Counsel
The Multiracial
Activists,
James Landrith, Founder
The New Grady Coalition
Ron Marshall, Director
Doctors for Open
Government
Dr. Jim Murtagh,
Director
Georgian for Open
Government
Gwen Marshall, Director
Ethics in Government Group
(EGG)
George Anderson,
Director
DemocracyRising.US
Velvet Revolution
Brad Friedman, Director